C'est La Vie
by YourSavingGrace
Summary: Embry is on a mission that takes him across the country, where he meets Gracie. She's got problems of her own, though. There are some things that even a werewolf can't save you from. EmbryxOC.
1. Lemme Take My Pants Off!

**A/N  
****Gracie has had a hard life. Her only escapes have been cheerleading and her friend Vivi. Embry's life hasn't changed much since Breaking Dawn, patrolling with Jake's pack, and hiding his secret from his mom. When he imprints on Gracie he isn't exactly ready to throw everything away for her though. This story will show their up's and down's as they get to know each other, the good, bad, and ugly.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :)**

…C'est la Vie…

Embry POV~

The only thing I could smell was leech, it was _everywhere._ I was running in circles trying to find the source, but to no avail.

_'Embry! Stop running, and just look!' _Sam ordered in my head, _'The sooner you calm down and pay attention the sooner this will be over!'_I could feel my brothers running faster when more of the bloodsuckers came into my view. Three of them launched themselves at me.

The last thing I remember is the pure _stench _of them all before I blacked-out.

"Shit, he's been out for a while!"

That voice sounds familiar. Aw, shit. Damn leeches got me. I struggled to open my eyes and heard Jake and Quil sigh with relief when they finally cracked open.

"What happened to the leeches?" I asked immediately.

Everyone exchanged glances before Paul spoke up, "When we showed up, they'd already gone."

"Yeah, we were going to track them, but we had to take care of you first," Sam put in. I groaned, great so they were still out there because of me.

"Well, we have to go after them!" I yelled. No way were they getting away from me again.

"Embry, they left our land, they ran east, all the way to Florida according to Alice. They're not our problem anymore," Quil informed me.

"So, what? We just let the defenseless humans fend for themselves?!" I asked angrily. Jake and Quil exchanged wary glances with each other.

"Well," Jake started, "We get that your mad and all about the leeches getting you, but is it really worth it to cross the country just to get them?"

I looked at them all angrily, "Come on! There's more than enough of us here to keep the land safe if I go!" I yelled, "It's something I have to do." I added quietly.

Sam sighed, "If you go, you're not going alone." I looked over at Quil and Jake. They both looked unsure, no doubt because of their damn imprints.

"Guys, think about it, if you come with me to get the vamps, you have the satisfaction of knowing that they can never come near Claire or Nessie again," Their eyes widened as they considered it.

"We're in!" They yelled together.

Sam groaned, he'd obviously been expecting them to say no, "Alright, well we need to get things set up, for your little quest."

I looked at him questioningly, "What's there to set up? We'll just run down, rip 'em up and run back."

"But, what if it takes longer to find them or destroy them? We need to figure out an excuse for you to stay there," he thought for a moment, "Do you have any relatives in Florida?"

"Umm, I'm not really sure. My mom would probably know though, I'll ask her tonight." Because that wouldn't be awkward at all, living with my family, who are basically strangers.

I ran home to my mother, wow how pathetic does that sound? I phased in the woods behind my house and yanked my shorts on before running up the steps into the house. My mom looked up as I walked over to her.

"What's up, sweetie?" She asked as I sat down across from her at the table.

"Do we have any relatives on the Florida?"

She looked up confused, "Actually, yes! My distant cousin on my mother's side. Let's see she'd be my third cousin twice removed, I think," She paused, "Why the sudden interest, Em?"

"Well, I was actually thinking of going out there for a little bit, you know see some more of the world, and I figured it'd be easier if we had family out there." I lied quickly.

"Oh, well that's wonderful! I'll call Carol right now! I'm sure she'd be happy to have you. But, are you sure that you really want to go all the way down to Florida, though? How long are you planning on going anyway? If it's long you'll still need to go to school, you know."

"I don't know how long yet, so I guess just sign me up or whatever as far as school goes. But, I think it'll be good for me to get out of this little town for a while,"

"Alright, I'll go call. But I'm sure Carol would love to have you," She got up and grabbed to phone before looking for her address book for the number, "We haven't talked in a while, I wonder how she's doing."

I sat at the table while she called, unaware that I could hear the whole conversation. It went like this:

Mom: Carol! How are you and the kids?  
Carol: Umm, I'm sorry who is this?  
Mom: It's Michelle! Your distant cousin?  
Carol: Oh Michelle! God, it's been so long since I saw you!  
Mom: I know! So, how have the kids been?  
Carol: Amazing! I have all the girls doing cheerleading and Josh is doing football. Cassie gets to cheer for him at all his games, it's so cute! How's your son been, Embry right?  
Mom: Yes, Embry's been good, and that's actually why I called. Embry was wondering if he could come out and stay with you for a little while, just to get to know you, and see then  
Carol: Um... Well, um I'm not sure that would be too good an idea. I've already got a full house, and with Vivi, Brianne, and Alani all competing this year things are going to be very hectic around here  
Mom: Well, surely you can find some time to meet Embry, he really wants to see more of the world than this little  
Carol: Well, I guess he could come... When should we be expecting him?  
Mom: How about on the 22nd? Is that okay?  
Carol: Sure, but warn him, we will be very busy around then with competition being the next  
Mom: I'm sure he won't mind, maybe he'll even go to watch the girls.

The entire time I sat there wondering how my mom didn't notice that Carol sounded like a total bitch. But, maybe it was just me. Mom walked into the room smiling and told me that I'd be leaving in a week and that she had gone online and had my ticket and everything. And now there's no backing out, I have to go stay with some random family of six, in their supposedly crowded house, and watch a bunch little brat's jump around in skirts and look like sluts. Fantastic.

"Well, I'm going to go tell Jake and Quil that I'm going. I'll see you later," I told her as I walked out the door, careful not to mention anything about Sam. She still thought I was involved in a gang.

"Have fun! Tell them I said, 'Hi!'" She yelled after me. I went back into the woods and stripped down, tying my shorts to my leg before taking off running for Sam's house. When

I got to Sam's I barged in and took a seat at their table as the pack came in and lounged around the kitchen.

Sam spoke first, "So? Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Yep! I get to stay with my mom's bitchy third cousin and her five kids in their crowded house. I leave next week." Jake and Quil looked at me, "You guys will have to just camp out in the woods or something. Unless you randomly found out you have relatives out in Florida too."

Jake rolled his eyes, "Yeah, because that happens _all_ the time!"

"Hey, hey now! No need for hostility!" I mock-scolded him. He gave me a look that clearly said fuck off. Some people are so touchy!

Mom pulled up to the airport in Seattle, I could already sense that this would be difficult.

Sure enough, "Oh, Embry! Are _absolutely_ sure you want to go?" I mentally rolled my

eyes.

"Yes, mother. I'm a big boy I'll be fine."

She sighed before unlocking the doors and popping the trunk for me. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and climbed out and grabbed my bags. I went through security and settled in my seat, squished in the middle of two people who apparently knew each other. But after almost barfing when the plane took off and the people bickering around me, the plane ride wasn't too bad.

When I finally stumbled off the plane at the Orlando International Airport, I glanced around for someone with with my skin. I realized almost instantly that, that wasn't going to work seeing as how, unlike Washington, not everyone here was completely pale. There were tons of darker-skinned people like me, along with people of basically every ethnicity.

Things couldn't ever be easy could they?

Finally I spotted a women with tan skin and my mother's eyes watching me, not even bothering to approach me, even though she obviously knew it was me. Did I not nail the bitch part? I walked cautiously over to her and asked, "Carol?" She simply nodded before turning around to get my bags from the conveyer belt.

The ride home was to say the least, awkward. We barely talked, but I did find out my cousins' names. The oldest one was about a year younger than me(16) and was named Vivi, then there were the twins, Alani and Brianne who were both 9, then Cassie and Josh, who were 6 and 7. All that I concluded about that was that, damn Carol got busy!

We arrived at the house bigger then me, Jake, _and_ Quil's houses put together. Oh yeah, I'm sure it's very crowded in there. When we walked in I could hear a girl screaming, most likely Vivi, about someone stealing her lollipops. Why the hell does she care that much about a couple of suckers? We heard her stomp around for a minute before we heard two younger girls scream, obviously the twins.

"Give them back, you little brats!" We heard Vivi screamed at the twins, before Carol decided to intervene.

"Vivi! Stop trying to kill your sisters! Alani, Brianne give your sister back her damn lollipops! Why you would want them I don't even know," I looked at her confused, they were 9 what was so weird about them wanting suckers?

"Lollipops are like a second pair of underwear that cheerleaders wear over their real underwear so, when they jump around and stuff their underwear doesn't actually show," I must have made a face or something, because she just rolled her eyes before going upstairs and telling the kids to come downstairs. They all filed down the stairs slowly, none of them looking at me. So bitchiness is hereditary, who knew.

"Embry this is Vivi, Alani, Brianne, Ashley, Josh," She said pointing to each of them in turn. The most I could conclude was that me, Vivi, and the twins all looked exactly alike, and the other two must look like their father. I also saw that Vivi and the twins were dressed way to inappropriately for girls their age. They shouldn't dress like that until they're at least 19.

They each gave a little hello, except for Vivi who just looked me up and down and snorted, before pulling out her phone and leaving the room, "Brianne, Alani! You better get ready now, if you don't want to be late for practice, which wouldn't be good considering competition's tomorrow," she called over her shoulder. The twins jumped up like someone lit a fire under their asses and ran after their sister.

"Shit! I forgot they all had practice!" She turned to me, "Say Embry, could you drive them to their practice? You just have to drop them off and chill out in the lobby for a little while."

"Umm, well how do I get there?"

She gave me the first real smile I'd seen from her, "Vivi can tell you how to get there! Thank you, I would never be able to get them all where they needed to go!"

I smiled back just as the girls came back downstairs all wearing shorts, t-shirts, and Uggs, and carrying their purses and these weird red boxes. Vivi grabbed a pair of sweatpants hanging off the back of the couch and slipped them over her shorts before walking outside to the car, with the twins following her. It was like they were clones.

Driving there only took about 15 minutes and when we got there the girls all ran in and into what I assume was the gym. I stopped inside the lobby and sat down in one of the chairs getting settled. I could hear people yelling on the other side of the door, and focused on what they were saying all I heard was someone yell, "Lemme take my pants off first, God!"

What. The. Hell.

I peeked inside the door and saw that, thankfully, everyone had their pants on, and it looked like Vivi and some other girl her age were jumping around, but hitting poses in midair. It was actually kind of cool. I saw the other girl turn her head towards me and I jumped back to my seat in the lobby.

I watched as all the little girls who had been watching Vivi and her friend filed out the door and stared at me as their parents arrived to take them home, but Alani, Brianne, and Vivi stayed in there. After most of the little girls left a bigger group of cheerleaders, a lot of which were surprisingly male, who all looked about Vivi's age came in talking and laughing. I went into the bathroom so I wouldn't have to sit there while they stared at me, and soon enough they all went into the gym.

I took a nap for about an hour and a half until I heard a big group of parents coming in, they, of course, stared at me for a few minutes before going into the gym. I followed them to see what was going on. The coaches approached me and said that only friends and family of the cheerleaders could come in here. As I tried to explain to the coaches I could here all of the girl cheerleaders whispering to each other about me. They called me, banging? What the hell? I gave them all a nasty look, the freaking plastics.

After I finally convinced the coaches that I was related Vivi, they told them to begin. They all went into positions, waiting for something and one girl was like on top of me she was so close. She had an amazing scent though...

All of the sudden, music loud enough to burst my ear drums started up and the girl in front of me turned to the front and all I could see were her eyes. They were amazing, hazel, but with different colored flecks that seemed to change color as she moved, and then they disappeared. I searched the mat for her and saw her do a bunch of these weird twisty back flips. Then a few guys grabbed her feet and threw her into the air and then catch her again so it looked like she was standing on their hands.

The music shut off and I watched as she was thrown up again and landed almost laying down in the girls' arms. She looked up and smirked at me and my obviously shocked face and ran jumped onto the trampoline and soared about 20 feet in the air. And I may have given a slightly unmanly yelp when she did.

I realized about five minutes late that I had imprinted and my thoughts started whirling. Of course I have to imprint on some brainless cheerleader. She'd never even like me anyway... not that I like her! She's probably stupid or something, I walked into the lobby mildly pissed.

"Come on Gracie!" Alani and Brianne called. At the same freaking time.

I heard someone giggle and looked up to see my imprint walking up to the twins and say, "Coming, coming! You know girls, beauty can't be rushed." Her name's Gracie! It's such a beautiful name, too... The girls laughed as they followed me onto the parking lot.

"Um, what the hell kind of car is _that_?!" I heard Gracie ask nastily. I wasn't going to bother explaining to her that it wasn't my actual car just a rental, but whatever.

"Could you not talk like that in front of the girls? You're not being a very good influence," I informed her. She raised her eyebrows and looked at me with eyes that spelled 'death'.

"I don't think you should start with the whole bad influence game. You don't even know the girls! Tell me _Embry,_ How are you related to Vivi and them anyway?"

Shit was it third cousins four times removed or fourth cousins three times removed?! "Umm, wel-"

"That's what I though," She said snottily, "Why don't you just try to get this piece of crap running and get us home? Oh, and try not to crash, guys with as much air in their head as you have shouldn't be allowed to ride in a car, let alone drive one!" Of course my imprint has to be a bitch.

The girls piled into the car and I asked where Gracie lived. Vivi told me just to take her to their house. When I wondered out loud why Vivi pulled out her phone and started texting furiously before saying, "She needs to stay at our house so she can get ready for competition with me. Her parents can't help her get ready, so my mom does, okay?" Gracie was actually quiet throughout all that but when I looked at her she was just looking out the window. She looked beautiful when she was thinki- STOP! I don't want to love her!

We pulled up to the house and Gracie and the girls climbed out just as Carol ran out and hugged Gracie, she looked like she was shaking. I heard her whisper to Gracie, "Don't worry you can stay here as long as you need! I'll have the girls and Embry give you some distance too."

Gracie whispered back a quiet 'thanks' before running into the house. I looked questioningly at Carol, but she just shook her head, and her and the girls went inside. While I sat there confused, and praying that nothing was wrong.

**A/N  
****Okay that's one chapter down! I would love it ever so much if you could find it in your heart to leave me a nice looong review! I'll see if I can give you a quick update. By the way, if you want to see the type of stuff Gracie's team is doing, I would suggest looking up Top Gun Allstars on youtube. There's a really good video of them from NCA Nationals, I think it's the second video there. Maybe I'll put a link to it on my profile... Check it out, they do some pretty insane stuff.**

**~Angelic-Story**


	2. Dumbass AKA Embry

**A/N **

**This chapter is going to be Gracie's POV last chapter and just a little smidgen before that.**

…C'est la Vie…

Gracie POV~

I jumped awake as I heard a glass smashing across the hall from me. Great, Brian's up.

"God damn it!" He yelled, "Gracelyn! Where is my morning coffee?"

"I didn't get it yet Dad," I called back, "I just woke up, I'll get it now."

"You stupid little bitch! You better hurry up with my fucking coffee before I beat the shit out of you!"

I closed my eyes tightly and let out a tiny whimper before climbing out of bed and running to the kitchen for his coffee.

"Come on girls!" Tammy yelled, slamming her fist down on the mat, "What part of slap on four don't you understand?!"

Another girl on the team spoke up, "No it's three, isn't it?"

"No it's four," Tammy said through clenched teeth.

"You're right it _is _four!"

"And that's a magic number!" I sang quietly, as Vivi snorted next to me. Tammy glared at me for a minute before turning back to the girls.

"You guys _please_, if you get this down I'll tell Leigh-Anne that this practice went perfect… if not then next practice won't be the best."

The girls got back into their formation and waited for the music to start, Vivi, Molly and me took positions around the mat to watch all of the girls. The music started up and the girls started their jumps, I watched as on of the girls messed up again.

"Gianna, you have to remember to clap on two, and then slap on _four_! If you can't get it you'll be moved to the back," I turned to the head coach, Tammy, "You should have them do individual jumps, put a little pressure on them to get it right. Then, we can just fix any mistakes we see as they go."

"Good idea, that'll definitely make them do it right." We had them all get into a line and told them that they had to do their jumps for us individually. "Whoever does the best will get excused from conditioning!" My girl, Gianna, actually ended up winning.

After we announced the winner Tammy thought it would be _hilarious_ to have me, Molly, and Vivi do our jumps to show the little girls how they should be done.

"Fine let me take my pants off first, _gosh_!" I yelled jokingly as I pulled off my sweatpants, so I was just wearing a pair of Soffe shorts. We fired off our own jump sequence as the younger girls cheered us on. I swear that there was someone was watching from the lobby as we jumped, but when I looked the door was still closed. I wrote it off as paranoia, and we had the girls get back to work.

After that, the little girls' practice was over, which meant it was time for me, Molly, and Vivi's practice. Joy. The only people that stayed from the other practice were Brianne and Alani since they were Vicky's sisters. They always stayed for our practice with Carol and they all watched us together. It was weird though, Carol didn't come in and watch with them today, but maybe she was in the lobby or something.

After being drilled by our coaches for an hour and fifty minutes exactly, we took a five minute break before we called our parents in to see what we're working on. When the parents came in some random guy walked in, and the coaches walked over and told him that only family of people on the team could come in. All the girls looked at each other and started muttering about how banging this guy was.

He told the coaches that he's related Vicky, Brianne and Alani, and was visiting them to get to know them now. So, he basically just popped into our town and Carol had him drive them to practice because Cassie had practice at the same time. We all turned to Vivi for a confirmation of this. She rolled her eyes and nodded.

I looked over at him and could see what the eye roll was about, he was just standing there giving us these nasty looks.

We got into our spots and waited for the music to start, I was right up in the front, and in front of Embry. I turned to the front, and all I saw was a pair of gorgeous deep brown eyes and stumbled, before I turned around to go tumble when I turned back his face was even more shocked then when we were cheering. I love cheerleading.

We went through the routine perfectly for once, hitting all our skills, even my kick-triple. You should have seen the guy's, I think his name was Embry, face when we all flipping all over the place. Priceless.

I tumbled a little more and went to my ending stunt, and got flung into the air. Then did a flip in the stunt and land in a hitch. We cradled and I looked at Embry for some reason and could help but smirk at how shocked he looked. He obviously didn't know much about cheerleading. God, I love being underestimated.

I smirked at him, before running and vaulting off the trampoline and grabbing my waterbottle. I swear to god I heard him yelp when I jumped. Really weird.

"What's the deal with your second cousin twenty times removed or whatever he is?" I asked Vivi while we waited outside and the coaches talked to the parents. "Seriously, how is he even related to you guys?"

"I'm still not completely not sure. Why don't you ask him yourself? We're driving you home today anyway," Vivi replied casually. Too casually.

"Oh yeah, I forgot we had competition tomorrow." I said quietly.

"_And_ Molly told me that her mom says you're too loud in the car for her to handle," Vivi said before smirking, "Oh yeah, my mom also told me that Embry kept on making faces while she was telling him about us cheering, so we may get to have a little fun in the car."

"Go Carol! Who knew she was so devious?"

"Well where do you think I got it?" Vivi asked with a grin.

"Oh good point," I conceded, just as the parents started walking out into the lobby. Embry lumbered up to us, with that pissed off expression again. Oh this'll be good, I love pushing people's buttons.

"Come on Gracie!" Brianne and Alani giggled at the same time. That twin thing could get really creepy sometimes, but I smiled at the anyway.

"Coming, coming. You know girls, beauty can't be rushed." The girls giggled again and we all followed dumbass, a.k.a. Embry, out to the parking lot.

"Um, what the hell kind of car is _that_?!" I asked snottily, deciding to start early on the annoying part. Vivi and the girls started cracking up.

"Could you not talk like that in front of the girls? You're not being a very good influence," Embry said, superiorly.

I raised my eyebrows. Oh yeah? Well two can play at that game buddy. "I don't think you should start with the whole bad influence game. You don't even know the girls! Tell me _Embry, _how are you even related to Vivi and them anyway?"

"Ummm, wel-"

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Cutting him off before he could even really say anything,

"Why don't you just try and get this piece of crap running and get us home. Oh, and try not to crash, guys with as much air in their heads as you have shouldn't be allowed to ride in a car, let alone drive one."

**A/N I know it's short, but I really just wanted to show you what Gracie was thinking today. We'll pick up where we left off with dearest Embry next chapter! Review please!**


	3. PartyPooper

**A/NI'm a bad, bad person. I really suck at updating, but I can never seem to find the time to sit down and write. But cheerleading is now over for me so that should help clear up my schedule. And school might be cancelled tomorrow from all the snow! So, hopefully I can get one or two chapters up in the next couple of days.**

…C'est La Vie…

Gracie POV~

"Hey, Gracie. Where do you live?" Embry asked.

"She's coming home with us," Vivi informed him.

"Why don't you have some big cheer thing tomorrow?" He asked.

Vivi jumped in before I could, "She needs to stay at our house so she can get ready for competition with me. Her parents can't help her get ready, so my mom does, okay?" I looked out the window so Embry wouldn't see my eyes start to water or my face turn red.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Vivi texting someone, probably her mom to tell her I would need her when we got home. I closed my eyes and tried not to think, it didn't work. When we pulled into Vivi's driveway I ran out of the car and straight into Carol's arms, just barely containing the sobs that wanted to break out.

Carol leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry you can stay here as long as you need! I'll even keep the girls and Embry give you some distance too." I actually didn't mind having them around me that much, but I whispered back a 'thanks' anyway, since she was really trying to help me.

I ran into the house with Vivi and the girls behind me, I just made it up to Vivi's room before I collapsed sobbing. Vivi sent the twins away and pulled me up into her lap and I grabbed onto her.

"C'mon Gracie, you know you have all of us here for you," Vivi told me soothingly, "We'd all do anything for you, hell even Embry would help you if he knew."

I had to let a laugh at that, Vivi smiled, "See, I already have you laughing," I smiled back, before my eyebrows furrowed.

"Vivi, I have to go to my house," her head shot up to look at me incredulously, "I need a few things," She still didn't look convinced, "Umm, my uniform, my curls, and my stuffed animal."

"Shit, your right. Okay, well I'm coming with you and we are not telling my mom,"

"Deal," Carol would blow a gasket if she knew what we were about to do.

We left after telling Carol that we were going for movies to watch. We grabbed our bikes and headed off to my house complaining the whole time, "Why can't we just drive already! I think this bike is dislocating my baby maker!"

Eventually we made it to my block, where we ditched our bikes on the corner, and walked cautiously to my house. We stood behind the big tree in my front yard and looked towards the front window to see if anyone was there. When we were sure there was no one there we ran to the garage and Vivi gave me a boost as I looked inside the tiny window. No cars.

"Thank the lord," I said in relief, "Alright let's do this fast." We ran inside and up to my room grabbing all my cheer things.

"Shit! Where's my other shoe?!" We franticly ran around the room looking for the shoe, when we heard the garage door opening. We both looked at each other wide-eyed. "C'mon we'll just get the shoe and run," I said and we continued searching quietly. After about five minutes we found the damn shoe and shoved it in my bag.

"Alright follow me, we're going to out the window, and then run to the bikes, okay?" Vivi nodded and I quietly opened the window and popped out the screen. We slowly stepped over onto the roof, and tried to walk quietly so we wouldn't be heard in the house.

We were halfway across the roof when Vivi tripped in front of me, she didn't fall off or anything but she did make a big thud when she hit. I helped her up and we waited to see if whoever was inside heard us. All of the sudden my father came running outside and spotted us immediately.

He let out a yell and ran to the garage, Vivi was whimpering next to me.

"_Shit_," I whispered as he ran out with a ladder. He immediately began climbing up to us. I looked over the side of the house and saw the big bushes I hid my old mattress in for times like these. I pushed Vivi onto the mattress and turned around only to get slapped in the face and fall back into Vivi's arms.

He called us names that would make a sailor blush and me and Vivi ran. As soon as we reached our bikes and we took off into the woods in case my dad tried to follow us.

We stopped when we reached the local park, which, thank god, was filled with people. We stood a little ways away from the crowd and Vivi started checking out my face, "Damn, it's already bruising. My mom is going to flip when she sees this."

"Are you okay? I did kind of push you off the roof,"

Vivi only laughed, "Trust me Gracie, I'm completely fine," She sighed looking up at the sky, "We should probably just head back, when my mom sees you she'll know where we went."

"Okay but let's go through the woods, I don't want to take chances out in the open."

"Me neither," She replied grimly, and I pulled my hood up and we jumped onto our bikes.

I swear to God, there was something in the woods when me and Vivi rode home. At one point I even thought I saw three big _things_ running around in there. When we got back to Vivi's it was already dark, and we found something scarier then the mysterious creatures in the forest.

Carol was waiting outside with the twins, and she looked _pissed_. "_Where were you two?! _You went out for movies two hours ago, it only takes fifteen goddamn minutes to get there."

She glared at us, silently daring us to tell her a lie, "We, um, we stopped by my house to get my cheer stuff." I reluctantly told her, after about a minute of her scary mom glare.

"YOU WHAT?!" She roared, and I swear I shit my pants, she was so scary, "Gracie why the hell would you possibly do that? I could have come with you! They couldn't have done anything if I were there!" She glared at us for a moment before her face melted into worry, "They didn't do anything, did they? Please tell me you two are alright!"

Vivi nudged me and I slowly pulled down my hood. Carol and the twins gasped. "Gracie!" the twins called out in worry.

"Chill out girls, I'm fine. Just a little bruise. Nothing a little makeup can't fix," I told them offhandedly, even though it was throbbing.

"Gracie, get inside I'll get some ice for you," I nodded and followed Carol inside. We walked into the kitchen just as Embry walked in the backdoor.

"What the hell happened?!" he asked murderously. I raised my eyebrows at him, while Carol told him to get me ice. Carol tipped my face up into the light and I heard the ice drop all over the floor as Embry gasped.

Me and Carol both looked at him questioningly, he was shaking. It was kind of scary, but at the same time I was seriously worried if he was alright. Wait! Why was I worried about Embry?!

"Sorry," he muttered and picked up all the ice cubes before wrapping them in a paper towel and handing them to me. His hand brushed against mine, it was shockingly warm. I stared at him for a moment before giving up and putting the ice on.

"What exactly happened Gracie?" Carol asked.

I looked over at Embry before answering, "You know where I was, what do you think happened?"

"Was he there the entire time?" Carol asked sounding afraid of the answer.

"No, Brian didn't get there till like five minutes before we left. We were so damn close," Gracie replied looking away.

"Damn it," Carol cursed under her breath, "Alright Gracie, why don't you go upstairs and start trying to go to sleep, I know how you get." I nodded and made my way up the stairs.

That night after everyone had gone to bed, I crept back downstairs into the kitchen for more ice. No matter how many times I told people it didn't hurt, it really did.

I was just sticking my head in the freezer to look for ice when someone spoke behind me, "What are you doing up this late?" Embry asked. I jumped up and hit my head on the freezer door.

"Shit," I muttered rubbing my head, "I was getting more ice, because honestly even though I said it feels fine, it hurts like a bitch!"

"Here let me help you," he said reaching around me to grab a handful of ice. I was hyper-aware of his arm as it brushed against my stomach. "C'mon," he said grabbing my hand and pulling me over to the counter, he grabbed my hips and lifted me up onto the counter. I got goose bumps where his hands were, I was also aware that my tank top had ridden up slightly exposing part of my tan stomach. I saw Embry glance down there.

He carefully slid the ice over the right side of my face, his eyes never leaving mine. "What really happened? I know you edited when you were telling Carol," he asked quietly.

"I just had a little had a little get-together with an acquaintance," I muttered looking away.

He turned my head back and my eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean? I could help you, you know,"

"Nobody can help me, Carol's tried tons of times, hell everyone has, but they can never get any proof."

"Proof of what?"

I spoke quietly, softly, "Why do you care so much?"

"I'm not sure, but even though we had kind of a shitty first impression, I really don't hate you. I actually really like you, if you can believe that," he answered staring at me with fierce eyes.

I breathed out a small, almost silent laugh, "I like you to, I don't know why, but I do,"

"So, will you tell me what's wrong. Believe me when I say I want to help,"

I sighed, "Everyone wants to help, but this is one of those things that are just easier said than done."

Embry looked away from me for the first time since he walked in, he stared, frustrated, out the window at the night sky.

"I've always liked looking out at the stars, and the moon, especially the moon," I said randomly as we sat there, "I'd do anything just to be able to sit there and stare at it, you know?"

He nodded absently and glanced back at me, seeming to like watching me more than the stars.

"When I turn eighteen, hell maybe sooner if I can, I'm going to get a tattoo of the night sky. I already have it picked out and everything," I tried again to start a conversation, "Are you planning on getting tattoos?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I might do what you said and go before I turn eighteen, I look old enough now." I glanced up and down his shirtless body, silently agreeing, this boy looked like he could be at least twenty-three. And the muscle on him!

"What will you get?" I asked before I stared at him too long.

"Probably something to do with wolves, they're my favorite animals," he told me smirking.

"Want to see what mine will look like? I have it saved on the computer here," I offered, "We could look for a good one for you too,"

"Don't you have to sleep or something for cheerleading tomorrow?" he asked sounding a little annoyed.

"Nah, I have trouble falling asleep, I'm almost always awake," I informed him. I heard a wolf howl outside.

"Damn, that sounded close. We don't normally have wolves around here," I muttered.

"Hmm, weird. Well, how 'bout I take a rain check on the tattoo thing? I'm actually really tired and you should at least try sleeping," he told me.

I sighed, "Alright, party-pooper," I said and before I could move he took off the ice and grabbed my hips again and lifted me off the counter. I shivered when his hands lingered for a moment on the exposed skin of my stomach.

"Alright, now at least try to sleep. For me," he added. I made a face but walked back to the stairs anyway. "Good_night_ Gracie," he called as I reached the stairs.

"Good_night_ Embry," I called slightly mockingly back before starting to hum the party-pooper song, and I swear I heard him chuckle before I walked into Vivi's room.

**A/N**

**So? What did you think?! I'm not going to lie I really liked the part in the kitchen, they are so cute together! I'm most likely going to either skip over the competition or just put something brief in there from Embry's POV. So look for it, I'm aiming to update very soon, hopefully.**


	4. Row Row Row Your Boat

**A/N**

**Alright, I completely admit it, I suck with updating, especially since I've had off this entire week because of snow days. Although to be fair I'm only a little over a day late… Anyway, this chapter's going to be Embry's POV, yadda yadda yadda, leave me a review, oh wait! You guys don't do that, do you?! Just sayin'. Please, please, please, please, please! Just one review! That's all I want! I swear I'll stop nagging! **

…C'est La Vie…

Embry POV~

I watched from the living room window as Vivi and my Gracie rode off, down the street. They looked _very _stressed for a couple of teenage girls going to get a movie, but I didn't have time to worry about they were up to, as much as I wish I did.

I walked outside into the woods that surrounded Carol's house and walked until I was sure it would be impossible to see me. The woods here definitely don't give as much cover as our forest. I stripped quickly and phased.

'_Row, row, row your boat. Gently down the strea- Hey Embry!,' _Quil greeted me, quickly breaking off his mental singing, Kid's spent way too much time with the 4 year-old. '_I heard that, dipshit.'_

'_Good, you were supposed to. It's funny, I'd swear you were the 4 year-old sometimes Quil. We all know Claire never liked that song,'_

Jake cut Quil off before he could retaliate, '_Guys, stop screwing around can we just hurry up and find them so we can get back to- HOLY SHIT YOU IMPRINTED!'_

'_Really? I wasn't aware,'_

'_What's her name? What is she like?'_

I mentally sighed, finally walking into the clearing where Jake and Quil were both lounging around, '_I'm not going to lie, she's a real bitch. But, I don't know there's something about her that makes me think she's really not.'_

'_Well, either she's a bitch or not,' _Quil spoke up, _'There's really no in between,'_

I showed them when she flipped out on me when I picked them up and then when she was obviously crying before.

'_I don't know man, I mean you kinda _did_ give her a reason to go off on you, oh wait! Can we see her?' _Jake asked excitedly.

'_Sure. It won't be hard to find her,' _I said before taking off following the pull in my chest. We ran for a couple of minutes before the girls came into view on their bikes. _'Why the hell are they in the woods! What if there are wild animals out here?!'_

'_Yeah, he definitely imprinted,' _Quil thought.

As if sensing my thoughts, Gracie turned her head and caught a glimpse of us before she turned around and sped up. We followed them home and sat in the woods for a second, before we heard Carol flip out, "YOU WHAT?!"

We sat there confused for a moment before curiosity overtook me and I phased and went back to the house. I walked in the back door just in time to see Carol and Gracie walk into the kitchen. I almost phased right there when I saw the bruise blossoming across the right side of Gracie's face.

"What the hell happened?!" I seethed. Gracie raised her eyebrows at my anger and Carol looked at me questioningly as she instructed me to get ice. I grabbed a handful and was about to get a paper towel when I saw Carol tip Gracie's face into the light and the bruise get thrown into definition.

I dropped the ice and started shaking as Carol and Gracie looked over at me. Gracie looked almost worried for me, she should be worried about herself! I muttered a quick apology before picking up the ice and passing it to Gracie who seemed shocked at my temperature, and stared at me for a moment before putting the ice on.

"What exactly happened Gracie?" Carol asked.

Gracie stared at me for a moment, "You know where I was, what do you think happened?"

"Was he there the entire time?" Carol asked nervously.

"No, Brian didn't get there till like five minutes before we left," Gracie replied looking away.

"Damn it," Carol cursed under her breath, "Alright Gracie, why don't you go upstairs and start trying to go to sleep, I know how you get." Gracie nodded and slowly ascended the stairs.

I heard her walking around before a door opened and Gracie spoke, "Goodnight, my most favorite pair of twins in the whole wide world. See you bright and early tomorrow morning!" I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face when she said that, the twins really do love her.

Carol turned to me, "Well, go ahead, ask."

"What really happened to Gracie?"

"You'll have to ask Gracie," she replied easily.

"Then why did you tell me to ask?" I wondered out loud.

"I knew you would anyway," she told me before walking away, "By the way, you'll be sleeping in the room down this hallway, second door on the left."

I glanced at the clock, 10:30. I shrugged and headed over to my room figuring the more sleep, the better.

I woke up around one in the morning, listening to the floorboards just barely creaking as someone walked past my room. I got up and followed the person into the kitchen and saw it was Gracie.

"What are you doing up this late?" I asked quietly. Watching as she jumped and hit her head on the freezer door.

She mumbled a curse before answering, "I was getting more ice, because honestly even though I said it feels fine, it hurts like a bitch!" I winced slightly, I don't want her to be in pain.

"Here let me help you," I said and quickly reached around her to grab ice. I could hear her heart beat faster when my arm brushed against her, "C'mon." I said catching her small, soft hand in mine and leading her over to the counter.

I placed my hands on her tiny hips and easily lifted her onto the counter, I could feel the goosebumps on her skin and when I looked her shirt had ridden up slightly and I could see her flat, tan stomach. I carefully slid the ice over the right side of her face, staring into her multicolored eyes the whole time.

"What really happened?" I said before I registered what I was saying, "I know you edited with Carol."

Her bright eyes darkened, "I just had a little get-together with an old acquaintance," she muttered and looked away.

I gently turned her face back to me, as I thought over what she said. So, she was with a friend, did they annoy her? Did they fight or something? "What do you mean? I could help you, you know."

"Nobody can help me, Carol's tried tons of times, hell everyone has, but they can never get proof," she said darkly. I don't like not being able to help her.

"Proof of what?" I pressed.

"Why do you care so much?" she whispered looking up at me.

I guess I can't tell her about imprinting yet can I? "I'm not sure, but even though we had kind of a shitty first impression, I really don't hate you. I actually really like you, if you can believe that," Really, really, really like you. Hell I love you!

She breathed out a tiny, almost silent laugh, "I like you to, I don't know why, but I do," I think I almost died right there! She likes me!

But getting back to the problem, "So, will you tell me what's wrong. Believe me when I say I want to help!" I'd do anything to be able to solve all of her problems.

She sighed, "Everyone wants to help, but this is just one of those things that are easier said than done," I turned frustratedly to the window. Why can't she just tell me and then _I'll_ decide if I could do it.

"I've always liked looking out at the stars, and the moon, especially the moon," she said randomly as I continued to look out the window, "I'd do anything just to be able to just sit there and stare at it, you know?" I nodded, wondering how it was possible that I could have thought she was stupid.

I looked back at her and didn't, couldn't, look away. She was an angel, my angel.

"When I turn eighteen," she started again, "Hell maybe sooner if I can, I'm going to get a tattoo of the night sky. I already have it picked out and everything," she said smiling dreamily, "Are you planning on getting tattoos?" She asked.

"Yeah, I might do what you said and go before I turn eighteen, I look old enough now." I look like I'm in at least my early twenties. I saw her look up and down my bodily greedily, and couldn't help but smirk when I saw the lust in her eyes. For me!

"What will you get?" she asked snapping out of it.

"Probably something to do with wolves," I said immediately, "They're my favorite animals," I informed her smirking as she raised her eyebrows.

"Want to see mine?" she asked after a moment of silence, "I have it saved on the computer here. We could look for a good one for you to."

I was about to nod when I actually thought about what time it was, and that she had that cheerleading thing to do tomorrow. I voiced those thoughts annoyed that I might not be able to spend as much time with her.

"Nah, I have trouble falling asleep, I'm almost always awake," she told me casually. I was about to tell her that she should try anyway to get _some _sleep, or maybe just cave and go on the computer with her, when a wolf howled outside. Jacob.

"Damn, that sounded close. We don't normally have wolves around here," she muttered sounding a little worried.

I tried to play it off casually, "Hmm, weird. Well, how 'bout I take a rain check on the tattoo thing? I'm actually really tired and you should at least try sleeping."

She sighed seeming disappointed that I didn't want to, "Alright party-pooper," she said and I smiled as I lifted her from the counter and took the ice off her, letting my hands linger on her stomach for a moment as I felt her shiver.

"Alright, now at least try to sleep. For me," I pleaded. She made a face, wrinkling her nose, and scrunching her eyes shut, before walking towards the stairs. Right as she was about to start climbing upstairs, I called out to her, "Good_night_ Gracie,"

Her heavenly voice drifted back to me, mimicking me, "Good_night_ Embry," I could hear the smile in her voice as she said that. As she walked up the stairs I heard her start to hum the party-pooper song and couldn't help but let out a tiny chuckle as I heard her door close.

I sighed before turning around and walking outside, I ran to the tree-line and phased instantly hearing the whole packs thoughts.

'_Wow you imprinted!'_

'_Way to go man, she's hot!'_

'_Oooh Embry's got a girlfriend!'_

'_Oh great another one.'_

As I listened to everyone's thoughts I realized that there really wasn't a meeting or anything. Jake and Quil just wanted to let everyone know that I imprinted!

'_You assholes! You made me come out here just to show everyone that I imprinted, when I could be spending more time with Gracie! I'm going to kill you!' _I raged.

Leah questioned me, _'What do you mean? It's three in the morning. Why the hell would you hang out with her now of all times? Unless you're going to be one of those creepy imprinters who like stalk their imprints while they're sleeping' _she tacked on as an afterthought.

'_No Leah, I'm not going to watch her sleep! She was awake.' _I thought and then showed everyone our conversation.

'_Whoa, what happened to her?' _everyone asked as one. I'll be honest it was kind of creepy.

'_She won't tell me' _I thought dejectedly, '_She says that nobody can help so she won't bother telling me.'_

Surprisingly Leah was the nicest to me, instead of laughing at me and saying that my own imprint thinks I'm incapable of helping anyone, she actually gave me some really good advice.

'_Just stick by her. Show her that you'll never leave her, that she can come to you for everything.' _

'_How can I show her though?' _I thought.

'_Always listen to her, give her hugs. If she gets scared, hold her and tell her it'll be alright. When you ask her what's wrong and she says nothing, don't believe her, but let her come to you. Basically Embry just be everything for her, everything you think she deserves.'_

'_Damn Leah!' _Everyone thought, surprised.

'_Thank you' _I thought quietly.

'_Anytime'_ she thought softly before phasing back. I phased back remembering why I used to like Leah so much. She always was helpful, she's do anything for her friends. I reminisced as I walked inside and laid down on my bed.

My thoughts shifted to Gracie in a matter of seconds as I heard her pacing around Vivi's room upstairs. I don't mind though, I'd give anything to be able to think of Gracie all the time.

**A/N**

**So what did you think? I tried making Embry a little more emotional, as he starts to like Gracie more. And I'm not going to lie I really love Leah, I might make her fit into this story somehow. Anyway I know I'm way late with this update, and I'm very sorry, things have been very hectic for me the past couple of days. Oh, and get this! It turns out that I have some long lost cousin named Michael. It's hysterical! Anyway, REVIEW, I COMMAND YOU!!!**


	5. I'll Follow You Into The Dark

**A/N  
Okay so let's face it, I suck when it comes to updating sometimes. I told you I would get another chapter up before winter break ended and I have failed you… :( But, some good news! I redid all of the chapters before this! Well, mostly the first two, but you get the point. Anyway, since nobody reviewed, as usual, nobody answered whether they wanted the competition or not. So, I figured I'd talk about in Gracie's POV and **_**maybe**_** in Embry's, but I'm still not sure… Anyway, enjoy!**

…C'est La Vie…

Gracie POV~

As per usual, even though I tried to go to sleep, it was almost an hour later and I was up and pacing around Vivi's room. I couldn't really say I was surprised though, I had a lot to think about, more than I was used to dealing with.

First, there was competition tomorrow, which was normally enough to keep me awake. Then I had the whole parental problem going on, which meant thinking of how in the hell I was going to hide this bruise, everyone was right it _did_ get worse. And, the absolute cherry-on-top, Embry. I don't have a clue what this boy is about.

I glanced at the clock and winced when I saw it was already quarter to six, there goes sleeping…. I sighed and decided to just get up and get cracking on covering this bitch of a bruise. I sat down in front of Vivi's mirror and pulled out my makeup bag.

I couldn't stop wincing whenever I patted on the concealer, but in the end it was worth it. You could just barely see the bruise and only if you looked really hard. I smiled as I stood up and checked the time again and decided to wake up Vivi.

Like any good friend, on such a big day I knew Vivi should be woken up gently and nicely, so I jumped on her. She screamed and I heard someone run up the stairs, and in two seconds flat, Embry burst into the room, and started looking all around for a murderer or something. Wow.

"Morning!" I yelled cheerfully, and Vivi pushed me off the bed. I blinked up at her from the ground, which apparently was hysterical, because Vivi couldn't stop laughing. Embry came over and helped me up.

Vivi stopped laughing immediately and stared at Embry, "Alright, what the hell did you do to Gracie?"

And, that's my cue. I started laughing and said, "Well, I'm going to wake up the twins. Have fun!" I pranced out of the room, and across the hall to the twins' room. I decided to be nice, and instead of jumping on them too, I actually woke them up nicely.

"C'mon girls today is the first big day of many to come!" They both stirred And I came over and pulled the sheets off of them, "C'mon, there's no time to waste it's a two-hour drive to get there and we cannot be late!"

They jumped up and started running around their room getting all their stuff together. I laughed under my breath at how stressed out they looked before heading back to Vivi's room to start getting ready.

Embry was still in there just sitting on the bed as Vivi walked around pulling out her uniform and make-up. I turned to Embry, "You," I pointed to him, "Shoo shoo!" I said making little motions with my hand.

"Why?" He whined.

"Because I need to get dressed, _so _if you'll excuse us…" I trailed off. He jumped up and ran out of the room while me and Vivi chuckled to ourselves.

"You know he actually isn't that bad," Vivi said nonchalantly. I nodded absently as I gathered all my things and sat down at her vanity.

I pulled my hair into my hot curlers and pinned them there before starting on my make-up. We worked side-by-side for a minute before the twins came running in.

"We need help doing our hair and make-up! We've never done it before!" They practically yelled together.

I smirked, "They're your sisters, Vivi,

"Yeah, but they like you better,"

"This is true," I conceded, "But they're not _my_ sisters," I said again.

"How about this, you take Alani, I'll take Brianne," She offered.

I considered it for a moment before agreeing, "Alright girls we'll help you but we need to get ready first okay?" They nodded and ran out of the room again, "Put on your uniforms while you wait, " I yelled after them.

Me and Vivi lapsed back into silence and I started on my make-up, the acid green sparkles going on the top of my eye and the black sparkles across the bottom. Both of the colors kept going of the side of my eyes and lifted slightly. Then I put on the ugly red lipstick we were all forced to wear.

I stood up from the mirror and slipped on my uniform and lollipops, before pulling a pair of sweats over my skirt and a button up shirt over my exposed stomach.

"Alani, you're up," I called down the hall and she came running in, in her little uniform, "Alright, sit down next to Vivi," I told her before repeating the whole process for her.

Brianne soon joined Alani and me and Vivi got them done in record time, "Alright, everybody!" Carol yelled from downstairs, "Breakfast, now!" We all ran downstairs only to see Embry at the table, wolfing down the food spread out across it.

We all stared for a few minutes before Embry finally realized that we were there, "Oh, hey… You guys gonna eat?"

I shrugged before sitting down across from Embry and snatching the cereal box out of his hand. I ignored his whining and emptied the box into my bowl, before devouring it.

Eventually, everyone got food and we were ready to set out for the convention center we were competing at. We had to divide into two cars: Me, Vivi and Embry in his car, and The twins and Carol in hers. Cassie and Josh were driving up later with Vivi's grandma.

We set off in the cars and I immediately turned on my i-pod to my favorite song, I Will Follow You Into the Dark. I drifted to sleep almost immediately after the song came on, and began dreaming.

_In my dream I was at my house Brian was beating me again, I could feel him bashing my head. I cried out for him to stop, but he just laughed at me._

_Suddenly, a huge wolf burst through the window, with grey fur and black spots. It jumped onto Brian and started tearing him apart while I sat there frozen with fear at what I was seeing._

_The wolf turned to me and I looked at it's eyes, it's shockingly familiar warm brown eyes. I closed my eyes again and could hear someone calling my name. _

_Gracie…_

_Gracie._

"Gracie!" Vivi shouted in my ear, "Get up! We're here!"

I jumped up and sure enough, we were pulling into the parking lot of a giant convention center. Me and Vivi jumped out of the car and ran towards the gates before hurrying inside.

We met up with the rest of our team there and watched a few of the teams we were against before we had to go warm up.

We got into the practice room and got to work on everything we could in the five minutes we had in there. As we warmed up we yelled encouragement to each other as we went along.

We got to the tumbling mat and I immediately threw my full, kind of like a back flip only twisting while you do it. I waited in line as other people warmed up and when I got back to the front I did my signature combination pass. I run and do a front flip into a round off back handspring, back handspring, whip-back, kick double full. Everyone cheered for me when I landed it.

We warmed up all of our stunts and jumps before we were kicked off the mat to go wait in line to perform. As we waited I could feel the nerves building up in me and as I looked around I could see similar nervous/excited expressions on everyone's faces.

We finally got to the front of the line and as the team before us was performing I looked through the cracks in the curtain to the audience. I could see all of our parents and family waiting to get into the VIP section to watch us. I saw Embry waiting with Carol and all the kids and felt another wave of nervousness crash in my stomach.

I had to do good in front of Embry.

The team on the mat finished their routine and ran off together. This is it.

I heard them announce our name and we burst out of the curtain and poured out onto the mat, we yelled to the crowd feeding of their energy, and getting even more pumped up.

I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through my body as stood waiting for the music to come on, just like when I first saw Embry…

**A/NYes, I'm really ending it there. I was supposed to be asleep already but I pushed this one out for you! In case you didn't read it up top… I REDID THE EARLIER CHAPTERS!!! Ha now you definitely saw it! But, I definitely think that they have been greatly improved by this so give 'em a look. By the way I have a video of an allstar team doing things that I described in this chapter. Go check them out!**


	6. Louis Vuitton Monkey

**A/N  
Alright, Embry is going to give us a little run-down of competition day, the things we saw and what comes after that…And mucho thanks to .Wannabe-Fantasy. For being the first person to actually review this story. You would all do well to follow her example :D **

…C'est la Vie…

Embry POV~

I stayed awake almost all night listening to Gracie's pacing. I didn't fall asleep until she stopped pacing, which wasn't until early morning. It was then that I dreamed of Gracie for the first time.

_Gracie was just standing there, smiling up at me. Her beautiful eyes were bright with happiness. I took one of her small hands in my own. She looked down at our hands and smiled even wider._

_A smirk graced her lips before she began leaning up to me, I leaned down to meet her but suddenly she disappeared. My hand was empty where hers had been and I looked around frantically for her._

_The beautiful setting changed around me and I turned in circles before finally spotting Gracie._

_She was running through the woods, alone. I could hear her panting. She had been running for a while._

_Not to far behind Gracie I heard a man yelling, "You'd better hope I don't catch you, you ungrateful little bitch!"_

_Gracie whimpered and tried to run faster, but the man was gaining on her. She stumbled and fell and the man was on her._

_He started dragging her through the trees and I could hear her screaming, begging._

_I tried to run after her, but it felt like my feet were stuck to the ground. I pushed against the force keeping me down, but I couldn't move, couldn't phase and protect her. _

_I was going crazy. I could hear her screams getting louder, the man laughing, but I couldn't help her. I was failing my imprint when she needed me most._

I jumped off the bed when I heard someone scream above me. I thundered up the stairs and ran into Vivi's room. I scanned the room frantically looking for possible threats coming up blank.

"Morning!" Gracie called out cheerfully from her perch on top of Vivi.

Vivi narrowed her eyes and pushed Gracie off of her where she landed in the floor. She blinked up at Vivi in confusion. And Vivi started laughing hysterically.

I walked over to Gracie and offered my hand to her, which she immediately accepted. I easily pulled her up, and turned to see Vivi stop laughing and stare at me with narrowed eyes.

"Alright, what the hell did you do to Gracie?" She asked bluntly.

Gracie laughed and retreated from the room leaving me alone to deal with my cousin.

Vivi looked at me expectantly. I stared back defiantly at her, "What?"

"Do you like her?" she asked cutting right to the chase.

I sighed, before answering her, "Yes, I do. A lot."

"Then why were you such an ass yesterday?"

"I didn't know her yesterday," I answered matter-of-factly.

"And you know her now?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yes," I replied, "She's a thinker, a dreamer, but she still plans everything out. She loves the night sky and plans on getting a tattoo of it as soon as possible. She acts tough when she doesn't understand the situation she's in. She has insomnia. And she almost _never_ tells someone when she is in some kind of pain.

"She has a lots of little freckles all across her nose, and dark, thick, curly hair. She loves cheerleading more than life itself. The only thing she loves more than that, is you and your family. Anything you'd care to add?"

Vivi looked at me for a couple of seconds before giving me a real smile. The first I've seen directed at me by her since I got here, "Alright, you passed. Make yourself comfortable here."

The way she said it implied that I should get used to the town, but I decided to make myself comfortable in room while I waited for Gracie to get back.

I heard her laughing as she came down the hall and walked into the room. She looked at me sitting on the bed, "You. Shoo shoo!" She said making little shooing motions with her hand.

"Why," I whined looking up at her from Vivi's _very _comfortable bed.

"Because we need to get dressed, _so_ if you'll excuse us…" My eyes widened and I practically ran out of the room.

I cursed under my breath at how stupid I probably looked when I heard the girls laughing upstairs. Carol had told us to be ready to leave at eight, so I had about an hour to go check in with the guys before we left.

I headed outside and ran into the woods, waiting until I knew I was in far enough to strip down and phase. Jake and Quil were both asleep when I phased, but surprisingly Leah was phased and awake.

'_Leah? Why are you phased this early?' _I asked.

'_Just seeing how things are going over there. I was actually waiting for one of these idiots to wake up, but all they'll do is lay there and dream about Nessie and Claire,'_

'_I think things are looking up,' _I said, a picture of Gracie's smiling face this morning floating to the front of my mind.

'_Is your family still being pissy towards you?' _she asked protectively.

'_No, actually. Carol was fine after I helped her out with driving the girls, and me and Vivi just started getting along this morning,' _I said and showed her our conversation.

'_Ooh, Embry's got a girlfriend!' _Leah laughed jokingly.

I mentally sighed, _'I wish,' _I whispered.

Leah quickly got serious again, _'Embry, you have to realize by now that she likes you,'_

'_What do you mean? How would I know if she likes me or not? I'm no Edward,'_

'_You don't have to be you big idiot! God, didn't you ever have a girlfriend before?'_

'_Yes,' _I replied confused.

'_And your girlfriend liked you right?' _she continued like she was talking to a five year-old.

'_Obviously,' _

'_Well, how did you know she liked you?'_

I thought about it for a moment, _'I don't know, how she reacted around me?'_

I saw Leah thinking about bashing her head into a tree,_ 'And how does Gracie react to you? Please! Answer before I kill myself!'_

I thought about all the times I'd seen Gracie act different around me, when she first saw my eyes and she stumbled, when her heart beat like crazy because my arm brushed against her, how she shivered when I had my hands on her waist.

'_Ooooooooh!' _I exclaimed after my little epiphany.

'_Finally! My god, I thought you were never gonna get it!' _she said in relief.

'_Whatever,' _I muttered.

'_But do you see what I mean? There's no doubt in my mind that'll you get together eventually,' _

'_I guess you're right,' _I said, _' Well, I have to get going. It's breakfast time!' _

Leah chuckled,_ 'Have fun. And don't forget what I said!' _she called before I phased.

I ran back to the house and into the kitchen just as Carol finished setting the table for breakfast, "Help yourself," She said gesturing to the table before calling up the stairs for all the kids.

I sat down and started digging in, I looked up and realized everyone staring at me. Creepy.

"Oh, hey… You guys gonna eat?" I asked when they continued to gawk at me.

Finally Gracie snapped out of it and came and sat down in front of me. I was too busy staring at the over-the-top makeup she had on to realize that she stole the cereal box until it was too late. I moaned and whined as she emptied the box's contents into her bowl.

Everyone sat down and ate and then we were ready to head off to the competition. Vivi and Gracie hopped into my car and we set off following Carol.

Gracie immediately turned on her i-pod and fell asleep in seconds. I turned to Vivi, "I'm confused, I thought she couldn't sleep."

Vivi glanced back at her and picked up the i-pod before snorting and throwing it back down, "That is so Gracie,"

"What is?" I asked. I want to know everything about Gracie.

"That damn song she's listening to," Vivi told me, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark, you know by Death Cab for Cutie?"

I shook my head, "No I hardly ever get to listen to music," Vivi's eyes rose in disbelief.

"Gracie would absolutely murder you if she heard that. Just so you know," She said before continuing, "You might want to educate yourself."

She pulled out her own i-pod and scrolled through it for a minute before plugging it into the car so the music filled the car.

Mellow guitar strumming filled my ears as I looked back to Gracie as often as I could without crashing the car. I realized about a minute into the song that I actually did know the song, but I let it play in the background, as I followed behind Carol.

I glanced back wincing as we passed over some bumps that made Gracie's head bang against the seat. She started tossing and turning, a frown across her beautiful face.

Minutes later we pulled into a giant parking lot and Vivi leaned back to wake up Gracie. They both jumped out of the car and ran into the convention center, so much for saying good luck…

I walked in with Carol and got a wristband from the ticket booth before we all walked into the main hall to watch the teams compete. Gracie and Vivi were both sitting in there with their team watching the teams they were against.

I could hear them make little comments to themselves as they watched the other teams go. They were all muttering about bobbles and touch-downs. Soon enough their coach told them it was time to warm up and they all got up and took off any extra clothes they had on before walking out together, coolly, confidently.

We only had to sit there for another half hour before their team was announced as being on deck and we all went down to the "VIP" section. All it really was, was a little fenced-off section of ground right in front of the mat they competed on.

The other team ran off the mat and the announcer yelled Gracie's team out of the speakers and they all ran out. They were all yelling and jumping up and down together, a lot of them were blowing kisses to the crowd and doing other little things like that.

Finally they all settled down and they all settled into their starting positions, Gracie was standing in the same place she was when I imprinted on her…

The same music blasted through the air and they all sprung into action like before, but this time I didn't lose sight of Gracie the entire time. I watched her flip through the air countless times as the parents around me screamed, and hollered for the team.

I could sometimes hear the people on the team yelling to each other and encouraging one another. They would yell things like 'C'mon so and so!' or 'Finish it!'. Gracie would occasionally call out too.

I watched her run and do a particularly complicated series of flips, she came down to land and when she did she stumbled a little. Barely noticeable if you didn't have wolf eyes, but I could see her smile become more strained.

She ran to the group of guys and was thrown through the air, I could see her gritting her teeth anytime her ankle was touched, but she didn't stop.

Finally, they hit their ending pose and Gracie fell back into the guys' arms. Everyone around her started jumping around and screaming, but she leaned up and whispered something to the guy next to her.

Immediately he scooped her back up into her arms and carried her off the mat and over to a guy wearing a shirt that identified him as First Aid. I ran over when I saw the guy start prodding at her ankle and Gracie wince and grab her teammate's hand.

She looked up at me when I walked up to them and smiled briefly before gritting her teeth again as the guy started wrapping her ankle.

"So," Gracie started, obviously trying not to think about her ankle, "How'd we do?"

"I'm not really sure, I don't really know to much about this stuff," I told her only half-lying. Sure, I didn't know much about it, but even if I did understand it I was only watching her.

Vivi ran over then and started interrogating Gracie about what happened, and it turned out I was right and it happened after her complicated little flippy thing.

According to the guy Gracie was still holding onto, Kevin, they did very well, basically everything hit.

"Alright," the First Aid guy said, "You're good to go. I would suggest staying off that ankle for a while, though."

I offered my hand to stand up and she took it careful to only stand on her let leg, "Here," I said, "Get on my back and I'll carry you so you don't have to walk,"

She looked up at me for a moment before shrugging, "Okay, turn around then. Kevin? Can you give me a lift onto the giant's back? I don't think I could jump that high…"

Kevin chuckled and a few seconds later I felt Gracie get placed on my back, her arms grabbing onto my shoulder, and her left leg wrapping around me waist. I carefully, picked up her right leg by the calf, so she wouldn't lean to one side.

She started laughing really hard when she got put on my back and when I asked her what she called Vivi over.

"Vivi, Vivi! Look he's got a real monkey backpack! A Louis Vuitton monkey bitch!" Vivi started laughing hysterically before saying something too.

"It goes: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" They both started laughing hysterically. I really need to start thinking about who I hang out with more carefully…

"Embry, let's go back to the seats," Gracie called from her perch on my back. I nodded and started walking back.

No sooner did we got back to the seats, their coaches pounced on us, like Vivi. I grabbed her arms and carefully pulled her around in front of me before setting her down in one of the seats.

I waited off to the side as she calmed her coaches down and they eventually walked away. I came over and sat down next to her, "How's the ankle?"

She laughed, "It's definitely been better. But, I know one thing for sure,"

"What's that?"

"That school is gonna be a bitch tomorrow!" she replied.

"Why? What's going to happen at school?"

"Nothing, but I'm going to have leave all my classes early walk with crutches and someone will need to carry my books for me," she told me, "Hey, do you have to go to school with us?"

I sighed, "Yes, I have to go to god damn school,"

She raised her eyebrows, "Touchy. It would seem that somebody's not very happy about school… why?"

"Because, apparently the attendance system is all different than at my school, so I have to go back to being a sophomore!"

"What's wrong with being a sophomore? You'll get to chill with me and Vivi all day!" I must have perked up at this because Gracie smiled, "See, not so bad. We'll probably have a ton of classes together."

"Yeah, I guess it won't be _so _bad,"

"Gracie!" We both looked up to see who yelled. Vivi came running up to us, "C'mon awards are in a few minutes we need to go over by the rest of the team!"

She turned around and I helped Gracie onto her back, "I bet twenty bucks you guys win," I said as she situated herself.

The girls both snorted, "Whatever. We'll see you later!" Vivi called back as she started running to where their team had congregated.

They made their way over to the mats, and sat down, Gracie with her legs up on one of the guys' lap. Pretty soon all the teams were sitting out on the mat and the lights dimmed.

I saw a lot of the teams grab each other's hands and put their heads down. I made my way over to the parent's section and waited for what was about to go down.

**A/N  
****Yeah, I couldn't really think of a good way to end it, but I didn't want to show the awards ceremony from Embry's POV. Trust me it will be a lot better to see what Gracie is thinking there. Anyway, what do you think? This is the fastest I've updated, like ever. Hopefully that's worth a few reviews! ****Happy Cinco de Mayo by the way!**


	7. Spazzing

**A/N **

**I know I took long, and after I was doing so well too. Well, I sowwy. I think I'll pick this chapter up from where Gracie was about to do her little trick, sound good? **

…C'est la Vie…

Gracie POV~

We were doing it! Everything was going perfect.

As we went through the routine I called encouragement to all my teammates. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body as I got ready to tumble.

I ran forward and threw all my power into the tricks. I flew through the air multiple times before my body finally started coming down.

When my feet hit the ground I immediately felt the weight roll onto my right ankle before it gave out and I immediately put my weight on my left leg.

I plastered a smile on my face as I ran again, trying not to give away the pain in my ankle. Just one more stunt and I'm done. I can do this.

I got to my spot and the boys started our pyramid. I never realize how often they touch my right ankle in this stunt.

Finally we hit our ending pose and I fell back gratefully into their arms. Everyone around me started screaming.

I grabbed onto one of the boy's, Kevin's, shoulder and almost yelled in his ear trying to be heard over the screaming.

"Kevin! I fucked up my ankle. Can you get me out of here?"

"Shit," he muttered before scooping me up in his arms and running to the First Aid man.

"What happened?" the man asked as Kevin set me down before him.

"I landed wrong in my tumbling pass and all my weight came down on my ankle. It rolled out and I'm pretty sure it's sprained," I told him wincing as he immediately started prodding at my ankle.

I grabbed Kevin's hand pretty hard and almost laughed when I saw him wince out of the corner of my eye.

Someone made their way toward us and I looked up to see Embry approaching. I smiled up at him before I felt my ankle being poked at again.

"So," I said trying to distract myself, "How'd we do?"

Embry grinned sheepishly, "I'm not really sure, I don't really know much about this stuff."

I was about to ask him to just freaking say something when Vivi came barreling towards us.

"What happened?" she practically yelled, "We get off the mat and I go to find you and Sebastian tells me that Kevin had to _carry_ you off!"

"Whoa! Vivi, calm down!" I stopped her, "I'm fine I just sprained my ankle."

"How?" she screeched.

"After my specialty pass in the routine,"

"You definitely couldn't tell though," Kevin jumped in, "_Everything_ hit! I swear we've never done better!"

"Alright, you're good to go," Thank you! "I would suggest staying off that ankle for a while though."

Embry offered his hand to me. I grabbed it and was immediately pulled up. I lifted my right leg in the air.

Embry looked down at my leg, "Here, get on my back and I'll carry you so you don't have to walk."

I looked up at him for a second before shrugging, "Okay turn around then," I turned to Kevin, "Kevin? Could you give me a lift onto the giant's back? I don't think I could jump that high…"

Kevin laughed and I stuck my tongue out at him. He grabbed my waist and placed me on Embry's back where I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and put my left leg around his waist.

He had just picked up my right calf when I started laughing hysterically realizing what this reminded me of. All I could think of now was Embry jumping up and doing the YES dance!

"What are you laughing at," Embry asked sounding slightly freaked out.

I ignored him and called Vivi over. I clued her in on the joke and she started laughing too. I looked at Embry's face and almost died laughing at how scared he looked.

I took pity on him, "Embry, let's go back to the seats."

He nodded and carefully made his way over to the seats before running off to the side when my coaches attacked.

They all started screaming and yelling and trying to get my attention at once. I plugged up my ears and yelled, "La la la la la la. LA LA LAAAAAA!"

They finally quieted down when I screamed the last one. I addressed my head coach, "What seems to be the problem Nicole?"

"What happened? We didn't see anything go wrong and then all the sudden Kevin's carrying you of the mat!" Wow. _Somebody's_ spazzing.

I explained my sad, sad story to them and they (finally!) left.

Embry wandered back over to me, "How's the ankle?"

I chuckled, "It's definitely been better. But, I know one thing for sure."

"What's that," he asked curiously.

I explained the whole problem of school to him. I started to wonder about his academic plans, "Hey, do you have to go to school with us?"

His face darkened and he sighed, "Yes, I have to go to god damn school."

Well then, Mr. Grumpy Gills! "Touchy. It would seem somebody's not very happy about school… why?"

"Because, apparently the attendance system is all different than at my school, so I have to go back to being a sophomore!" he replied, obviously annoyed.

"What's wrong with being a sophomore? You'll get to chill with me and Vivi all day!" I told him trying to cheer him up. I smiled when I saw his face light up. "See, not so bad. We'll probably have a ton of classes together."

"Yeah, I guess it won't be _so _bad," Damn right it won't be!

"Gracie!" We both looked up to see who yelled. Vivi came running up to us, "C'mon awards are in a few minutes we need to go over by the rest of the team!"

She turned around and Embry helped me climb onto her back, "I bet twenty bucks you guys win,"

Me and Vivi snorted, "Whatever. We'll see you later!"

Vivi carried me to the mat and we situated ourselves amongst our team. The announcer walked into the middle of the mat.

"Let's get the awards started everyone!" He immediately started going through all the awards starting with the younger teams and moving up. The twins' team got second.

I could feel my stomach start to flip nervously as they got closer and closer to our division. Finally, it was time.

I held hands with Vivi and another girl on my team and laid my head on Kevin's shoulder squeezing my arms shut.

I let out a little sigh of relief with every team that they announced. It was up to second place now. I squeezed Vivi's hand tighter.

I could feel all of the team breathing, it was dead quiet where we were sitting. They were announcing first place it could be any of the teams left.

I could hear a few girls on my team whimper wanting them to say it already. I took a deep breath…

They called our name.

Everyone jumped up around me, Kevin practically threw me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He spun around and jumped up and down as we all screamed and I threw my fist into the air.

We settled down and sat grinning like maniacs and hugging each other. Finally, awards were done and we all ran to our parents, me being on Vivi's back.

We all met up with our parents and even Embry gave me a hug. I might have inwardly squealed. Hey, he's got _mad_ muscle! And he's so _warm._

When we separated he threw his arm around my waist and swung me onto his back while I giggled. Wow, I sound like an idiot.

"Carol!" Embry called to get her attention, "Do you want to leave now so we don't hit all the traffic?"

"That'd probably be a good idea. We don't want you tired for school tomorrow," She said smirking.

Embry, Vivi, the twins, and I all groaned at the same time. Carol just laughed at us before leading the way out of the convention center.

I rested my chin on Embry's shoulder as he walked back to the car.

"Pooooop," I moaned into Embry's ear. I felt his body stiffen slightly as my breath tickled his ear.

I smiled to myself as we reached the car and Embry set me down gently in the backseat.

I stretched out across the seat, "Aaaah," I sighed tiredly, "Sleepy time she comes," I muttered before putting on my ipod and closing my eyes.

School with Embry tomorrow I thought to myself happily before finally drifting of to sleep.

Embry POV~

I looked back at Gracie in the rearview mirror as I started driving home. Vivi was passed out in the passenger's seat next to me.

Gracie had her ipod on again and I could faintly hear I Will Follow You Into the Dark playing again mixed with her slowing breathing.

A serene smile graced her lips before her breathing evened out and she entered her dreamland.

**A/N**

**Awe! Wasn't that last part adorable? I know! So, what did you think about the awards ceremony? I really just based it off of the many experiences I had on the competition floor. Next chapter, SCHOOL! Dun dun dun! Review pwease!**


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